YouTube – Current state of the sellers market

YouTube – Current state of the sellers marketAdmin2018-11-21T18:26:57+02:00

Updated: 12.07.2018

YouTube is still holding its title as a good social media platform, which causes a high demand for desirable Channels within the marketing world. However, despite the high demand, Channel prices are on a fast decline, ever since YouTube introduced their new policies that crippled their value. If you’re in the market to sell a YouTube Channel, the following information will explain things from a buyers perspective. People don’t like to buy themselves into a mess, and since 2017, YouTube has been getting tons of negative press regarding their latest changes. The following article will shine a light on the current problems the platform is going through, so YouTube sellers can understand the current market of Channels and their perceived value.

YouTube ‘Adpocalypse’

One of the big and controversial YouTube stories in 2017 has been the demonetization of content on YouTube. The ‘Adpocalypse’ has hit YouTubers who deal with controversial subject matters. The whole problem began over two separate incidents. The first incident was when it came to light that terrorist groups were using YouTube to upload and monetize videos promoting terrorism. The second mishap occurred when the most popular YouTuber called ‘PewDiePie’ made a video that included men he had paid to hold signs that had ‘Death to all Jews’ written on them. These accidents spooked advertisers worldwide, and the resulting downturn in revenue for many content creators has been brutal. To save face, YouTube started demonetizing Channels by the millions, in order to keep the advertisers happy. The problem with this move was that YouTube began targeting Channels not really linked to extremism, like gaming channels, gun safety videos, prank channels, etc. The new YouTube system was so bad, it unfairly deleted Channels not linked to any violence at all. Millions of people lost their revenue stream, overnight. Fast forward to 2018, these policies are still in place, and YouTube can demonetize your Channel at any time, which instantly makes your once prosperous social asset nearly worthless.

‘Not suitable for most advertisers’

Ever since the now infamous ‘Adpocalypse,’ many of the videos that are uploaded are auto-reviewed by YouTubes ad-worthy algorithms. What it boils down to is that a computer chooses whether your content is good enough for ads. If not, you’re out of luck, and the video will not generate any income. YouTube gives the option to appeal the decision via a manual review. But multiple reports suggest that the review process is slow and often unfair.

Sinking ad revenue for uploaders

If you happen to talk to any Channel owner with a decent subscriber base, you will find out that over the years, the ad rates for content creators have been steadily declining. It has gotten so bad that many popular YouTubers decided to quit the platform and sell their Channels for next to nothing.

Other policies in effect turned YouTube into a harsher environment. For example, smaller Channels can’t even be monetized as of the beginning of this year. Channels will need 4,000 hours of annual viewing time and over 1,000 subscribers, according to the new rules introduced in January 2018. Previously, the standard for joining YouTube’s Partner Program was 10,000 views, that’s it, without any specific requirement for annual viewing hours. This change made it harder for new, smaller channels to reach monetization, but YouTube says it’s an essential way of buying itself more time to see who’s following the company’s guidelines and disqualify the bad apples. The problem is the review process itself (once you meet their criteria) sometimes takes months to be approved.

All these changes brought a lot of negative attention to YouTube, so buyers aren’t willing to shell out the same amount of money for Channels as they did before 2017 when these drastic policy updates took place. In fact, prices have dropped by so much that our company frequently sees famous YouTubers sell out their Channels for novelty prices. For example, a popular gaming channel owner (we won’t name them to protect their privacy) with over 500,000 subscribers, sold his Channel for a mere 6,000 USD. Just a few years ago a Channel like that had the potential to earn 12,000 USD per month, yet now, people are selling out for pennies on the dollar. This trend is living proof that the trust in the platform is dropping. Combine that with demonetizations, unfair policies, and low ad-rates, and you got yourselves a drop in value. If you’re preparing yourself to sell your YouTube Channel, make sure to keep these factors in mind while negotiating prices with an interested party.